ProJared
Jared Lee Knabenbauer (born: ), better known online as ProJared (formerly DMJared), is an American gaming YouTuber. He was formerly employed by ScrewAttack.com, but quit to do his own ventures. He is known for his reviews and occasional Top Tens. His Let's Play channel, ProJared Plays, is where he plays various games and uploads his Nuzlocke challenges. About Jared was a part of Normal Boots, a group of creators that just talk about videogames, along with PeanutButterGamer, JonTron, The Completionist, DidYouKnowGaming?, Continue?, and Satchbag's Goods, but as of May 9, 2019, Normal Boots officially announced his departure from the company due to the controversy surrounding his infidelity and solicitation of nude photos. Jared has Dungeon Mastered for Dungeons and Dragons, as well as even playing on a stream on Twitch called Dice, Camera, Action! with other YouTubers such as CommanderHolly and NateWantsToBattle. Personal Life Jared was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He lived in Dallas, Texas, and then moved to Seattle, Washington. He was formerly married to Heidi O'Ferrall, until May 8, 2019, when it was revealed that they were filing for divorce. Shortly after, Twitter revoked his verification. Videos Jared is known for his One Minute reviews of current titles, his more detailed reviews for bing bing wahoos he thinks that deserve one, and the less serious "Pro" Reviews, often of retro games he played as a child. In addition he does occasional Top Tens, such as the Top Ten Bees in videogames, and has done 4 Nuzlocke challenges so far. Nuzlocke Challenges The Nuzlocke Challenge is Pokémon with some added rules *Rule 1: If a Pokémon faints, it is considered dead, and must be released. There are no exceptions to this *Rule 2: You can only catch the first Pokémon you see in each area. If you knock it out or flee from battle, then you cannot catch anything in that area. So far Jared has done four Nuzlocke Challenges: FireRed, Y, Dark Cry, a ROM hack, and Alpha Sapphire. Of these, he has only completed one: FireRed, with four Pokémon surviving; two that he left in the PC box, Wiggleywoo that Tangela, and Gworvan the Machop he caught in Victory Road and never used, and two survivors of the team that beat his rival, Guidjit: Leebin the Tentacruel, and Nuptup the Vileplume, who was with Jared from Episode 4 when she was caught, all the way to episode 36. In Pokémon Y, he failed after his teams cornerstone, a Charizard named Rathalos, died after taking two critical Dragon Claws from a Gabite. He died the episode after, with his last Pokémon, a Klefki called JingleJanle died to a wild Magneton. In Dark Cry, He fell after encountering a girl with three Level 31 Paras before any of Jared's Pokémon reached level 20. In Alpha Sapphire, he died to Winona after his plan to defeat her went awry. He died with quite a few Pokémon left in the PC and his Skitty, Purtwom, left in the Day Care Center. Collaborations/Guest Appearances Jared has collaborated with quite a few other YouTubers. He has done Monster Hunter videos with SuperPaniLand, SuperMCGamer, Criken Chippers, and PBG, and has appeared in 4 series of PBG's "Hardcore". He has also worked with PBG for his Pocky and Rocky Pro Review, has worked with The Completionist on his Illusion of Gaia episode. He appeared on The Game Theorists channel in Gaijin Goombah's Game Exchange, in the Bravely Default episode, and has narrated multiple episodes of DidYouKnowGaming?. He is also a part of the GAME SQUAD, alongside PBG, Brutalmoose, and SpaceHamster. Controversy Adultery, Solicitation of Nudes and Backlash On May 8, 2019, Jared tweeted on Twitter that he and his wife Heldi were getting a divorce. Jared had faced a large amount of backlash because Heldi (Jared's former wife) tweeted that she recently found out that Jared had been cheating on Heldi with more than one other person. Jared faced more controversy on the same day due to being accused of soliciting sexually explicit photos of underage fans. Within hours, purported fans began posting allegations of impropriety by Knabenbauer, two of whom claimed they were under 18 at the time, with testimonials and photographic evidence. It was alleged that Jared had used Tumblr to solicit nudes from fans under the username "SinJared". Normal Boots released a statement on May 9 severing their business relationship with Jared, noting he had been under internal investigation for "inappropriate conduct" since April 4, 2019. On May 17, 2019, Jared released another statement on Twitter where he claimed that he and his wife were in an open polyamorous relationship with both of them having partners on the side, which he also claimed Heidi had encouraged. Heidi countered with a series of tweets saying that they had indeed attempted polyamory at one point, but she had "shut it down" later on due to Jared's lack of transparency regarding the relationship with Conrad, and she considered their subsequent relationship infidelity. On May 20, 2019, Holly posted a Twitter thread purporting to corroborate Knabenbauer's version of events. She alleged Heidi encouraged Knabenbauer to explore his feelings for Holly, but expected nothing to happen due to Holly having expressed asexuality. Holly further alleged that when the feelings were returned, Heidi became abusive and threatened to ruin their D&D career, allegations Heidi denied. The resulting backlash from these events caused Jared to suffer from extreme public backlash and caused him to lose more than 20% of his subscribers over the course of just a few days, with many viewing him as a predatory pedophile. Response On August 27, 2019, Jared uploaded a video, titled "YOU'VE BEEN LIED TO" to his YouTube channel after a long absence from the Internet.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBywRBbDUjA In the video, Jared alleges that the reason why he did not provide a further response to the allegations against him was because he was in talks with his lawyers and wanted to wait until he had compiled evidence against all of the claims against him before he made a full response. Jared then provides evidence against the claims that he solicited nudes from minors, showing that both of the allegations were unsubstantiated and could not have taken place, with one seemingly not taking place at all, and the other (who despite Jared having indeed talked to on Tumblr), never turned sexual. He also states he had no knowledge of the two being under 18 at the time and that they lied about their age to him. Jared also states that he never cheated on Heidi and that he was already attempting to divorce her as early as October 2018, before he began his relationship with Holly, as well as that Heidi had refused to agree to it initially. To support his claims, Jared displayed screenshots of his talks with his divorce lawyer taken around that time. At the end of the video, Jared criticizes all of the YouTubers who commented on the situation without taking time to get a full understanding of the situation or to message him to get his side. He also urged people to spread and share the video in the hopes of reclaiming his internet fanbase. This video resulted in a significant increase in support for Jared and his channel, with his subscriber count gradually increasing again. Trivia *In mid-early-September 2015, Jared had a guest appearance on a Nickelodeon show called Game Shakers, in which he advertised a mobile app called Sky Whale. He admitted the show was stupid, but didn't regret having the experience of being on TV. *Speculation lead people to believe that Jared had relations with Holly Conrad while she was still married to Ross O'Donovan, concluding it to be the reason behind Ross and Holly's divorce. The parties involved have said that this is false. This misconception may have arisen due to how unpublicized Holly and Ross's divorce, and the reasons for it, were. Though this lack of attention was likely nice for all involved at the time, it has now lead to the unintended consequence of leaving much room for people to make wild speculations. *He was formerly granted moderator privileges on the fan-run subreddit /r/ProJared. However, when the adultery and solicitation of nudes from fans became apparent, the subreddit's admin ImMrGay revoked Jared's mod status on both moral grounds and to prevent him from deleting posts calling him out on his behavior. References This page was created by DerpMcDerp on June 6, 2015. Category:Users that joined in 2006 Category:Male YouTubers Category:American YouTubers Category:Gaming YouTubers Category:YouTube Reviewers